NEW YORK — The fastball came in ripe, tumbling over the middle of the plate toward the prime location hitters love. Troy Tulowitzki wagged his bat one last time before unleashing the small front-leg kick and powerful swing.

The fastball left quickly, whizzing toward Yankee Stadium’s right field, bound for the first row of bleachers.

A.J. Burnett followed it for a few steps until he confirmed the worst, that the Rockies lead had just grown by another run in the top of the fifth inning.

In a 4-2 loss to Colorado tonight, Burnett (7-6, 4.15 ERA) walked off the mound with one out in the seventh inning a conflicted man. He was good enough to strike out four Rockies in one inning — the first time that rarity had occurred in franchise history — but had just one other K in his 6 1/3-inning outing.

On the plus side, Burnett was able to work out of several jams. Twice, he walked men to load the bases, but the righty strong-armed the Rockies to a 1-for-8 night with runners in scoring position.

“Being as erratic as I was,” Burnett said, “it kind of took us out of the game.”

In front of the 46,028 at Yankee Stadium there was cold weather, cold Yankee bats and Burnett, who, at times, was as good as he has been all season. At others, the command on his fastball betrayed him, and pitching coach Larry Rothschild remained on retainer for pep talks inning after inning.

The Rockies, who’d come in winning six of their past eight, paid no mind to the denser eastern air as they ripped nine hits. The Yankees (43-31) came in having won 10 of their previous 13, but lost their second straight.

“A.J. has always been a guy whose mechanics have always been a little complicated at times,” Girardi said. “But today was just a struggle.”

Burnett did not bear this burden alone, though. The Yankee offense tonight was comprised of three walks by Curtis Granderson, two of which led to RBI from Alex Rodriguez in the first and the third innings.

“He’s called a super-baller, he’ll throw a couple fastballs 89, 91, then he’ll come back with 96,” Nick Swisher said. “He pitched a good game.”

Burnett did his best to tiptoe around the Rockies, who came into the game with the fifth most home runs in the National League. He found out quickly how difficult that could be.

In the second, Giambi, after a warm “welcome home” ovation from the fans, swatted the third pitch he saw deep to right field. The ball landed where the bleachers meet the first overhang more than 400 feet away. It was his first time trotting the bases at the new Yankee Stadium after 95 home runs in pinstripes over seven seasons at the old one.

In the third, Todd Helton punched a bases-loaded RBI single to right field. In the fourth, with runners on second and third, Ty Wigginton chopped an RBI ground out to third.

And then there was Tulowitzki.

“I was inconsistent all night with my arm slot right up until the last inning,” Burnett said. “I just tried to pound strikes as best I could.”

At that point, despite all the walks, the abysmal ball-to-strike ratio (47-58), the fleeting command, the Yankees were one swing away from tying the game at 3-2. But then, Burnett ran into the same problem he couldn’t shake all night.